eww.... 4 conductor #2 MC with ground.....

[Fulthrotl]

i have something to quote in the morning, and it's a near impossible job....

feeding a new 100 amp 3ph 208v panel up on a cantilevered mezzanine
from a bucket in the switchgear in the basement.

about 150' run... as nasty as it is, there is no way i can pipe it, and
if i flexed it, when i went to pull wire, it'd get all slinky on me.....

and that leaves 4 conductor #2 with a #6 ground MC cable...... this thing
is gonna be an over the river and thru the woods thing, including going
down a cased column next to a structural steel beam, and going thru the
deck into a closed hard lid ceiliing. nothing is easy, everywhere is full of
duct work, and i'm trying to put a number on how many hours it'll take.

i'm looking at three days, for two guys.... i know this is like me calling you
up on the phone, telling you what i see in the rear view mirror, and you
telling me how to parallel park, but if you had to SWAG it, how long would
you figure it'd take, for 150' in a crappy hard lid situation, with some access
holes, but a whole lotta snoodling needed.

thanks in advance....

 

[defears]

It depends on how many pulleys you have. They replace people.

 

[Cow]

i'm looking at three days, for two guys

Probably what I'd figure on too.

How are you planning on strapping it? Sometimes you spend more time figuring out ways to fasten it then you do running it. 2 hole straps here, minerallacs here, strut there, etc.

 

[jeremysterling]

one mechanic, one helper, two days.

first day: stage material, plan the route, start pulling.

second day: tail it in and terminate

You may need the third day to repair sheetrock!

 

[Fulthrotl]

Probably what I'd figure on too.

How are you planning on strapping it? Sometimes you spend more time figuring out ways to fasten it then you do running it. 2 hole straps here, minerallacs here, strut there, etc.

ceiling wires are looking pretty good, to be honest... shoot them every few feet,
wrap and cut..... job walked it today, gave the man the bid, told him up front
what i figured for time, and asked if he thinks the number was fair... by his
reaction, i think he thought it more than fair. it's for an hvac upgrade, and
he's the hvac contractor.... been doing it for 45 years.. nice guy.... and smart.

material cost between pipe and wire, and cable was within $100 of each other,
so the main thing is labor, and installability.... if i have to drag it in, i'll get a
couple pulling sheaves, and get a mule tape over the path i want to take,
and then pull it in with a tugger, with one guy working the tugger, and the
other guy working the head to keep it from snagging....

i have maxis triggers, so it's a simple matter to control the pull.... cut a hole
in the basement hard lid ceiling, put the spool under it to feed straight up
the inside of a column, around a pulley at the top, across another hard lid,
take a bend around a corner with another pulley, then up another 20' in
a soffit to get to the equipment room......

what could go wrong?

(rofl)
:roll:

 

[btharmy]

Let us know how it goes. I'm curious not only how it goes, but also how close your labor estimate was.

 

[cadpoint]

Just thinking out loud.

I think your low on man power, the tugger is not really a tugger in this case with cable, at the ceiling 90 you will need two men. JMO

I doult you will be pulling from you feet up but from over your head. The worker at that point will be critical maybe that is the point where you install a pulley, even the weight of the cable down does not get that much less pulling over a pulley. Really it just depends on how high they have to pull in vertical. Let the man(men) ribbon some materail and have your lead man lead it in.

One man, add at the 90 transition, one will aid with the feed up, or at the structural members crossing. Did you snake light above and below the structural transition?

 

[chris kennedy]

I think your low on man power

Agreed.

 

[Fulthrotl]

Agreed.

yep, i agree as well..... however, i've done some things with tuggers
that worked out pretty well.... so if they say do it, i'll shoot some pictures
and let ya know how it works out..... as long as i can get a hole thru
the deck where i want it to be, inside a hollow column, i'm good....
if not, then i will make a sound like a mashed cat....

i got on a sucky crew once, that was pulling 4 conductor 500 mcm
with a 4/0 ground MC cable underfloor in a data center... about
two dozen runs.... the foreperson decided that ten of us could
heave ho it in.... it was the monkey and a football story... and
the last two pulls, set up a tugger, and pulleys, and two guys
pulled it in very nicely... one guy working the rope, and the other
one guiding the end of the cable, nice and slow... traded places
when the guy guiding it got tired.

truth is, if i can get pipe thru there, i'll run pipe and pull it with
simpull... set up C condulets, and just pull thru them.